Time Is Always The Enemy
by Witness2HumanitiesInsanity
Summary: Gajeel is known for a lot of things, but now that his past has come back to him everything will be put out in the open. The countdown of his life has once again started...5...enemies will rise...4...allies will fight along side him...3...but can he make it?...2...he won't let it happen again...1...because this time if he fails he can't bring her back.
1. Time Start

**A/N: Thought i'd give trying a Fairy Tail fanfic a shot starting with one of my favorite characters an OC. Anywho this story is rated M for language, gore and possible (still don't know yet) sexual content. **

**Hope you enjoy the story. Would love to hear what you think and please ignore any misspellings or typo's thanks.**

* * *

The strongest team of the Fairy Tail Guild was heading home from their most recent job which consisted on a lot of destruction on Natsu's part, which lead to a reaction of Gary confronting him about his stupidity and Erza becoming annoyed at their bickering while Lucy, Happy and Wendy with Carla, who had tagged along this time, stood on the side lines sighing the whole time.

"If it weren't for you we wouldn't have had to use some of the reward money to pay for the wrecked walls you made!" Gary shouted getting in his face

"Maybe I wouldn't have wrecked any walls if you weren't such a useless stripper!" Natsu retorted his fists covered in flames

"Do you two really have to fight? At least we still came back with 10,000 Jewel." Wendy said looking at the two wizards fighting. Being that they were yelling the whole time while poor Wendy was speaking they didn't hear her.

"You both are making Wendy very uneasy and I will not stand for it." Erza stepped in making both Natsu and Gray cower at her looming glare "Apologize." She then demanded

"Sorry, Wendy!" Natsu and Gray said in unison

"Honestly…can't you both try and stat getting along. I think things would probably go a lot smoother if you both tried I don't know…being friends." Lucy said before turning her attention to them.

Natsu and Gray at each before they both scoffed and looked away from each other, Gray crossing his arms and Natsu walking with his hands behind his head till they reached the train station. Natsu could already feel his stomach flipping in his stomach just looking at the train. "Suck it up." Gray simply said walking past Natsu who was beginning to feel too sick to even try and retaliate at the time.

"Come on, Natsu." Lucy said patting his shoulder as he groaned getting on board the train.

* * *

While Natsu's face was plastered against the window basically turning purple from the movement of the train, everyone was in their own conversation talking about the mission or what they should do when they get home. Overall a pretty normal ride till Natsu's motion sick vision saw what looked like a flame peeking over the top of a seat and slowly, like a mindless zombie made his face across and leaned his head over the back of the opposite seat and slopped his mouth on it. "Natsu, what the hell-?!" Gray began to asked, but had no time to finish before the flames arms started flailing around, freaking out and then standing up knocking Natsu off of it making him hit the floor with a loud thud.

"Natsu are you all right?!" Lucy asked since he hit the floor a little hard

"What's your problem you big meany?!" Happy asked quickly as Natsu watched him fly over to the flame.

"I'm not mean. I just don't like people trying to eat my head!" the flame retorted and that's when Natsu began to realize as his motion sick spell started to die down to the stop of the train. The flame wasn't a flame at it…it was actually a girl.

"Please don't mind our friend. He probably was not in his…right…mind." Erza said looking at the girl a little strangely. Not surprisingly considering the girl did look a bit on the odd side. Her complexion was tanned and wore a black tank top, with faded gray form fitting pants, knee high boots and simple black fingerless gloves. A relatively simple outfit, but that wasn't the strange part the strangeness lied in her hair and eyes mostly. Her hair was wavy and reached a little past her shoulders but it looked as if deep within the strands it had fire mixed in with it. It was all the shades of a flames and waved through it softly just like a normal undisturbed fire and her eyes were a light orange.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean for him to get hurt, but in my defense I didn't expect someone to try and eat my hair." The girl said, who was no younger than 18.

"It's fine. Understandable. At least you didn't bunch him." Erza said making the giggle a little as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Hey…why do you look so weird?!" Natus quickly asked when he shot up and pointed at her "Is that fire on your head?!" and without even asking he touched her hair, but it felt just like that. Hair. No burning, not break like there would be in a flame it was just hair that literally looked like it was somehow magically mixed with fire to create this strange effect.

"Natsu…don't just go touching a girl's hair like that!" Lucy reprimanded "Gray, tell-" but lucy stopped mid-sentence seeing Gray had joined Natsu in this apparent strange discovery making the girl stand there wide eyed and stiff as both males looked at her head like she was a new species they had just discovered Happy floating above her head with the same amazement written on his face.

"It's not fire…but then why is it like this?" Gray asked in curiosity

"I don't know…how weird. Has it always been like that?" Natsu said

"Uhhh I don't remember. I guess it has." the girl said looking between the both of them as they handled her hair "Can you not…do that?"

"Gray, Natsu!" was all Erza had to say before they stood down and stiffened up making her sigh, "I'm sorry for them." She added

"It's fine. Really. I get reactions like that a lot. I know I looked weird." The girl smiled gently which made Erza smile a little herself.

"I think it looks pretty." Wendy said and the girl smiled down at her

"Thank you. I think yours is very pretty too." She said and then looked up "Well this is my stop. I should get off before the train starts to move again."

"Wait your stopping here in Magnolia too?" Lucy asked and the girl nodded "So are we!" Lucy added happily

"Are you new here? I don't remember." The girl said a little embarrassed

"Oh so you don't know if you've been here before? If you have I guess it was probably a while ago." Lucy said and the girl laughed a little as she nodded

"Come on I'll show you around." Lucy said grabbing the girl by her wrist as everyone started to leave the train.

"You're being very friendly with someone you just met on the train. How do you know they aren't here to hurt the Guild?" Carla asked

"Wait…if we're in Magnolia and your apart of a guild then that means your apart of Fairy Tail?!" the girl asked surprised

"Yup!" Lucy said happily "I'm sure you've heard of some of us. I'm Lucy Heartfillia."

"That's Erza Scarlet-" Lucy continued ", Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, Wendy Marvel, Happy and Carla."

"Wow…I've definitely heard of you guys. I first heard about you when you stopped Nirvanna." The girl said excitedly "That was amazing by the way."

"Thanks." Natsu said with his signature grin "So uh…what's your name?"

"Phoenix Alwar." The girl said with a smile as she held her hand out to shake everyone else "Nice to meet you all!"


	2. Strange

"So are you visiting someone here in Magnolia?" Gray asked was he walked on the other side of Phoenix, his hands in his pockets.

"Uh…I don't think so." Phoenix said and Gray looked at her with a raised eyebrow due to her strange answer, but decided not to mention anything since he noticed Erza didn't say anything and if there was anyone good at picking up certain things on people it was her.

Lucy had spent about an hour showing Phoenix around with the rest of the gang and asking various questions that sometimes resulted in strange answers like the one that was given to Gray. It was a little strange at times of course, but it seemed pretty innocent. At least that's what Lucy told herself as they continued their tour. "And over there is the Fairy Tail Guild." Lucy said pointing to a building and suddenly Phoenix's arm glowed as writing appeared on it taking everyone by surprise. On her arm glowing in a mixture of oranges and reds were two things. 'Magic shop. Pen.'

"Oh right. Where's the magic shop?" Phoenix asked looking around before she saw it and walked off as the writing faded from her arm.

"That was letter magic." Erza said looking toward the shop

"That's what Freed and Levy can do right?" lucy asked and Erza nodded

"I've never seen it used like that before. Weird." Gray said crossing his arms over his chest.

"I told you there was something strange about her." Carla said "I knew we shouldn't have showed her around."

"Hey…all because she utilized her magic in a different way doesn't mean she's a bad person." Lucy said

"Yeah." Natsu said with a shrug "If I could use my magic to not make me sick on modes of transportation I would."

"Sorry I couldn't help you Natsu, but I used a lot of my magic energy on the last job." Wendy said looking at him

"It's fine." Natsu said "at least it's over now."

"Well we should probably let the Master know that the mission went well. Lucy and Gray stay here and make sure you bring her to the Guild once she's done." Erza commanded

"Why the Guild?" Gray asked "We're not even completely sure we can trust her yet."

"True, but the master's there and I'm going to tell him about her. I'm sure he'll want to see her for himself. I think she might be a wizard…and it doesn't seem like she's part of a guild." Erza said before she left with the others not allowing Lucy or Gray to question her anymore.

Gray and Lucy just exchanged glances before they just settled on listening to Erza, which was the best option unless you wanted to pay for it later. They stood there waiting for about another ten minutes before Phoenix came back out writing something on her arm with the pen she bought, which they were both sure was used for the letter magic she was using to write on her arm.

"Hey Phoenix…why don't you come with us to our guild?" Lucy asked when she walked over

"Really?" Phoenix asked looking between them

"Yeah. Erza thinks you should meet our master." Gray added and then looked at her arm not seeing anything on it "What were you writing on your arm?"

"Oh…just a small note about you guys." She said making both of them look at her strangely and she looked away rubbing her left arm with the slightest frown on her face. Lucy and Gray looked at each other again before turning their attention back on her. It was clear the way they looked at her made her feel a little uncomfortable but they couldn't help it. This wasn't exactly something they saw people do every day.

"I'm sorry. I must seem really weird to you both right now, but I can't help it." She said "I promise I'm no threat to you, your friends or your guild. I'm just trying to find help is all."

"Help for what?" gray asked and Phoenix looked at the ground her eyes moving around as if searching for her response like it would be written on the ground "I-I don't remember."

This alone left Gray and Lucy more than confused. She came to Magnolia but didn't know why, she needs help but doesn't remember for what. This was just getting stranger and stranger by the minute and they wasted no time bringing Phoenix to the guild. Something was up for sure, but they didn't know what. Phoenix wasn't telling them and that was something to be cautious about. Bringing her to the guild for Master Makarov to see was the best option at the moment. After all he might be able to get her to tell what she's really up to.

* * *

At the guild Erza was talking with Makarov, while Natsu, Wendy and Gajeel were talking about their latest mission. Natsu, of course was bragging about how well he did which made Gajeel laugh.

"Don't kid yourself! I'm sure I could've done a way better job than you ever could!" Gajeel retorted

"Yeah right!" Natsu glared

"Tell me moron, which material is better for helping repair a building and extend it. Fire or iron?!" Gajeel said as they glared at each other, foreheads pressed together till Natsu thought about it and then glared even more at Gajeel.

"Guys…please don't fight." Wendy said with a sigh

"Idiot." Gajeel mumbled to himself making Natsu stand up

"That's it!" he said as his fists set fire "I'm fired up now! Get ready to get a major ass kicking!"

"Bring it on!" Gajeel said as he stood up also ready to fight Natsu when he stopped and his eyes landed on Gray, Lucy and a new face that walked into the guild. His red eyes widened looking at the new girl following her with his gaze, lowering his fist slowly as they all came to a stop in front of Erza and Makarov.

Natsu was about ready to let lose when he noticed Gajeel's sudden change in attitude. He looked…surprised.

"Hey Metal head, what's eating you?"Natsu asked and looked in the direction he was looking "that's a girl we met on the train today. She's kinda weird. Erza said Gray and Lucy should bring her here to see if the old man could tell if she was dangerous or not. Anyway…enough about that I wanna beat your head in!" Natsu added as he turned back around to fight Gajeel, but was surprised when he saw he was missing from where he was and then looked around seeing him walking to where Makarov was.

"Now he's acting weird. What did you do to him Natsu?" Happy asked him

"Nothing!" Natsu said defensively

* * *

"So you need help…but don't know for what?" Makarov asked as he looked at Phoenix with a raised eyebrow. She nodded and then looked away from him. There goes that look again. She knew the things she was saying didn't make sense, but she didn't know what else to say. She was being honest which was the scary part. It bothered her not being able to get them or just others in general to understand her, but at the same time she knew how it must seem. In that same token it made her feel alone. She understood them, but she could never get them to understand her the way she needed them to. She was just about ready to just thank Makarov for speaking with her and tell them she was going to get on the next train and leave. To where? She didn't know, but did it even really matter? That was until she heard a voice that broke her from her thoughts.

"Phoenix?" she heard and turned around looking up at the tall black haired, red eyed wizard that stood a couple feet away from her.


	3. Nightmare

"Do you know this woman?" Makarov asked making Gajeel look at him

"Is she a friend of yours?" Erza asked Phoenix

"Um…i…" Phoenix looked at him, trying to concentrate, trying to figure out an answer to give, a good answer, but instead she found herself answering the same way she had been lately "I don't know."

Gajeel looked back down at her and sighed. "It must hurt forgetting all the time." Gajeel said as he stepped forward and reached out making her jump a little as he placed his hand over her left ear while she craned her neck a bit more this time to look up at him since he was closer to her now.

"Gajeel?" was all she said as she looked at him and he removed his hand and a bright smile crept onto her face.

"Gajeel!" she shouted happily as she looked at him. This time with recognition.

* * *

Gajeel stood leaning against the counter by Makarov as he watched Phoenix talk to Lucy, Natsu and Gray, along with Juvia who was clinging to Gray's arm. He wondered how long it had been since he last saw her. Six years? Yes. It had been exactly six years since he last saw her…and thought she was dead. "I think it's time you explain yourself more thoroughly. Who is this girl exactly?" Makarov asked

"An old friend of mine. Childhood friend if you wanna be more specific." Gajeel said still keeping his eyes on her

"Yet she didn't remember you" Makarov said "Not right away at least."

"It's always been like that. Things were normal with her once but it all started to change without warning." Gajeel said, but Makarov could see that even though he was in the guild he was far off, his mind was clearly elsewhere.

"I don't understand."

"Phoenix is a Dragon Slayer. A Fire Dragon Slayer."

"She was raised by Igneel as well?!" Erza asked surprised "Then why didn't Natsu recognize her?!"

"No…not by Igneel. There's another kind of Fire Dragon that was around during that time. A very un-natural one." Gajeel said making Makarov look at Phoenix in utter shock and then back at Gajeel.

"Atlas Flame!" Makarov said

"Exactly." Gajeel said

"Guess that should explain her odd appearance." Makarov said in thought "but that still doesn't explain her memory loss issue."

"It's because of her Dragon Slayer magic -" Gajeel paused looking away from Phoenix as he clenched his fists even though his arms were crossed.

"What is it?" Erza asked making him look at her

"Che, none of your business." He simply said and walked off somewhere in the guild. He didn't care where, but he just didn't want to be there anymore.

"Gajeel!" Erza said offended by his sudden rudeness and went to approach him about it but Makarov stopped her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Leave him, Erza. Clearly there is something about this reunion that's bothering him. Just give it some time. As of right now the girl seems to not be a threat of any kind, so let's make sure we welcome her. Let's have Mira handle things from here, huh?" " Makarov said with a smile and Erza just sighed lightly and nodded to his request.

* * *

Gajeel walked, he didn't know where but he did. Wherever his feet were taking him that's where he was going.

"Gajeel." he heard and looked behind him before looking down and seeing none other than his exceed partner, Pantherlily.

"What do ya want?" Gajeel asked and continued to walk, Lily behind him.

"Where are you going?" lily asked looking up at him

"Don't know, don't care."

"Aren't you going to talk to your friend?" lily asked confused "You haven't seen her in a while, I'm sure-"

"Honestly lily-" Gajeel began as he looked over his shoulder at the exceed "right now I'm just hoping that this is all some kind of nightmare I'm having."

Lily stopped his tracks as he watched Gajeel walk away more than confused. It was his childhood friend…wouldn't he want to see her, talk to her hang around her to make up for lost time.

'so why?' lily thought to himself 'why are you walking away Gajeel…what's wrong?...what aren't you saying?'

* * *

**A/N: Hey hey peeps, since i'm in school right now i can't update as often as i would like, but when i do i'll try to put up at least two chapters at a time. anywho, thanks for reading. please comment and let me know what you think and please ignore any misspellings or typo's you may see. **


	4. Past

"Who knew Gajeel had friends before he came to Fairytail?" Gray said leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed

"Yeah…wasn't he like…an idiot?" Natsu asked

"No…I mean…it's been a while but when I knew him he was…nice, maybe a little rough around the edges, but he was always caring and looked out for me. I imagine he hasn't changed much since he's here with you guys." Phoenix said and Juvia looked at Gray before lowering her head for a moment.

"Um Gajeel-" lucy began

"-Is a good guy." Natsu continued before Lucy could finish her sentence "I mean sure him and I don't get along but he's a big help around here in Fairytail."

"I'm so glad to hear." Phoenix said standing up from the table after taking a sip from her drink "speaking of?...where did he go? We have a lot to talk about."

"How many other friends of his are running around I wonder." Juvia thought out loud

"None. Just me. It was always been just him and me…at least from what I know." Phoenix said looking at her with a friendly smile and then looking out the window seeing Gajeel sitting on a bench "Gajeel and I met when I was 11 and were together for about a year before we got separated."

"You spent an entire year with Gajeel…alone?!" natsu asked wide eyed slamming his hands down on the table as he stood

"Yeah." Phoenix said laughing at his reaction "Is it really so hard to believe? Gajeel and I are close. I couldn't have asked for a better companion in that one year after Atlas disappeared."

"Atlas?" Natsu asked

"Yeah…the dragon who raised me." She said looking at him over her shoulder.

* * *

**A 13 year old boy walked with a small bag hanging across his chest which carried basic supplies and wore nothing more than the clothes on his back with short messy spiked black hair. He stopped in his tracks seeing a small fire in the distance and considering the sun was starting to set on this particular day he would need a place to stay for the night...and preferably by a fire. He walked to a clearing hidden behind a bolder and sure enough found a fire there but there was no one around. Being cautious with his approach he looked around himself before moving forward slowly.**

**'Someone made a fire...so where are they?' He thought to himself and then stopped in his tracks seeing someone laying on the ground, their back facing him. He stared at them for a moment seeing them in what looked like a tattered faded black short sleeved shirt and wore a simple pair of shorts that had holes here and there in them along with some tears and a pair of dirty converses. He just stared a little wide eyed wondering if the person was dead. The way the fire reflected on them and the condition they were in only made it seem like that was the case. He went to turn around and leave when he heard a voice.**

**"Are you going to kill me?" their voice cracked and he froze before turning around again, but didn't say anything "Cause I promise…I'll fight…I won't let you hurt me!"**

**'It's a girl.' He thought to himself and then glared at the back of her head when he realized the way she came out at him "Tsk…whatever…I'll just go somewhere else. I didn't see anyone here so calm down." He said and went to walk away again.**

**"Wait!" she said with urgency and quickly whisked around when he felt a hand on his arm ready to fight if needed and met face to face with the girl finally. She was relatively small and he could tell she was younger than him, and that's when he noticed it. Her hair looked like fire and deep within it seemed to move like flames and her eyes were a light orange.**

**"I thought you were an adult trying to hurt me…but you kinda sound like you're around my age." She said "I've just…been having a bad day is all. Atlas left me…and I've been on my own since then. What are you doing here on your own?"**

**He stood there staring at her for a moment and in silence before he spoke "I lost someone too…I'm just moving around."**

**"You lost someone too?!...wait was it?...um…a dragon?" she asked a little cautiously and even he looked surprised**

**"Atlas was a dragon too?!" he asked**

**"So the person you lost WAS a dragon!" she said with a slight smile and he just gave a quick nod**

**"I thought it was only me." He said**

**"No…it was mine too. Well it's good to know I'm not alone…not completely." She said and then gave him a warm smile making him blush lightly as he turned his head away a little.**

**"My name's Phoenix Alwar." She said holding her hand out to him, making him look at her.**

**"That's a weird name." he said and she pouted a little before crossing her arms**

**"Well what's your name then?" she retorted**

**"Gajeel…Gajeel Redfox." He said and then glared at her when she started giggling**

**"What's so funny?!" he snapped blushing lightly again**

**"and you told me my name was weird." She laughed "I haven't laughed like that since Atlas left."**

**"Tsk..whatever." he just said**

**"thank you, Gajeel" she said surprising him a bit while she smiled**

* * *

'What a pain in the ass…haven't thought about that since we separated.' He thought to himself his eyes closed

"Gajeel." He heard and opened his eyes looking out into the water and then turned his head in the direction he heard her.

"Are you trying to avoid me?" Pheonix said standing next to the bench her hands on her hips and he looked her up and down a moment before turning away.

"Just trying to think is all." He said keeping his arms crossed and she frowned a little before sighing and looking out into the water.

She just nodded and decided to change the subject. "So you joined an official guild…they seem nice. I'm glad you made friends." She said which made Gajeel clench his fists, waiting for what he didn't want to hear.

"You picked a good guild…I've heard a lot about them. I think it's perfect for you too." She said and he looked at her relaxing a bit "granted your demeanor can be a bit hard but you fit well here nonetheless. Have you been with these guys since we separated?"

Gajeel just stared at her while she waited for an answer. She seemed a bit confused as to why he was taking so long before she laughed, "what?...is it some kind of secret?"

"…I've been here long enough." He said realizing she had no idea about his past or the things he had done"…i'm not buddy buddy with these guys but I work with them and talk to them sometimes."

"Yup…that's just like you, Gajeel." She laughed before taking a load off right beside him "You need to loosen up a bit and try actually being friendly with these people."

"Why are you here Phoenix?" he suddenly asked catching her off guard

"I was traveling…looking for help." She said turning to look at him as they both sat in silence after her response

"…it's gotten worse. I can tell." He finally said making her smile sadly as she adjusted herself to sit facing forward.

"It's that obvious huh?" she asked with a sigh

"How long does it take before you forget things?" he asked

"I don't know…I'm guessing a few hours…maybe a day at most before I forget things, but I use letter magic and write things down on my skin. I set it up so that if there's anything I need to do or remember it's triggered and words appear on my arm. I already wrote things concerning everyone I met today." She said and then pulled out the pen she had bought.

"Don't wanna forget the person I wanted to see the most." She said smiling as she went to write on her arm but stopped just before the tip touched her skin. It just hovered above the skin and started to shake a little.

"What's wrong with you?" gajeel asked and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Phoenix?" he asked looking at her seeing some of her hair shadowing the area around her eyes "I've always tried to remember you, you know."

"I know…I believe you." He said and she raised her head smiling

"I wish I didn't have to do this just to remember you…of all people you're the one I should remember most." She said going to write on her arm before Gajeel's hand stopped her, making her jump a little.

"Then don't." he said "maybe if you keep tryin to remember me on your own you'll eventually be able to do it." He said and then sighed as he stood up putting his hands behind his head.

With that said Phoenix smiled gently at him as she stood up beside him, turning around to look at the large and beautiful guild that stood behind them. "Gotta be fate or something that brought us back together for a reason, right?"

"I guess." Gajeel said in thought

"Hey Phoenix…come on back and settle in!" Mira called out to her

"Me?!" Phoenix asked surprised

"Who else would I be talking to silly?" Mira said waving her over

"Come on, we have a room for you to stay in while you're here at the guild with us since you're a friend of Gajeel's."

"Wow…thank you so much!" Pheonix said before going back inside the guild leaving Gajeel to the one thought that now lingered in his head before he smirked to himself crossing his arms and turning back to the guild himself.

"Fate huh?" he said before he walked back into the guild himself.

"Come on, Gajeel you still gotta show me around the guild!" Pheonix called out

"I'll show you around. I know this place like the back of my hand!" Natsu said with his signature grin.

"Hey stay away from her, fire head!" Gajeel snapped before storming back inside to Natsu's rants and yells.

* * *

**A/N: Please comment and let me know what you think and please ignore any misspellings or typo's you may see. Anywho thanks for reading and hope you enjoy. ;-}**


End file.
